Aruba Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) today announced that the Kings of
Wessex Academy, one of the leading senior schools in South-West England,
has deployed an Aruba wireless network with the ClearPass Access
Management System to facilitate Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) for staff
and students. The Aruba deployment has enabled Kings to accelerate its
plans for e-learning by facilitating a rapid increase in the number of
mobile devices that can connect to the school’s network – a move that
would have been unfeasible just a few years ago.

Located in Cheddar, Somerset, the Kings of Wessex Academy specialises in
technology, providing its students with state-of-the-art IT facilities
and enhanced opportunities in Science, Mathematics and Design
Technology. This commitment to recognising and utilising cutting edge
technology was key to the school’s decision to deploy a wireless network
capable of meeting the demands of the modern classroom and student.

With the explosive growth of BYOD and rapid development of e-learning,
the Kings of Wessex Academy realized that expanding their existing Aruba
wireless network and deploying ClearPass had to be a priority. The
number of student-owned smartphones, tablets and laptops had grown
faster than anyone could have predicted. In addition, the school’s
virtual learning environment, which gives students access to educational
resources both at home and in school, has fuelled its plan to equip each
student with a netbook starting from the 2012 intake, which will
introduce 300 extra devices onto the network every year. By adopting
ClearPass, Kings can easily support secure connectivity for IT-issued
and personal mobile devices across any network.

“At the same time as upgrading our APs we also brought in ClearPass,
allowing the students to self-enroll on the Wi-Fi,” said Chris Oakley,
IT Manager at the Kings of Wessex Academy. “That’s been brilliant – they
see a browser page that looks like the school network, they just have to
agree to the terms and conditions and enter the username and password
that they already have for classroom use. For example, we have more than
300 sixth-formers with a lot of self-study periods – and while there are
a number of computers in the library, if they want to work in their own
social areas, they are now able to do so.”

The expanded Aruba Wi-Fi network has already helped with a number of
innovative e-learning projects. For example, the Mathematics department
uses QR codes to link students to online video clips that help with
problem solving and mathematical techniques. Given the insufficient 3G
coverage around the school, Wi-Fi delivers the bandwidth required to
improve the performance of communication applications allowing students
to save on phone bill costs.

It took just one day to swap the school’s existing population of more
than 40 single-band Access Points (APs) for dual-band equivalents that
can support 802.11a at 5GHz. No changes were needed to the wired
backbone, and the new Aruba AP-125 dual-band APs worked with Kings'
existing Aruba mobility controller.

“Aruba Networks has delivered a comprehensive solutions approach to
enable the Kings of Wessex Academy to take advantage of the latest
technologies and e-learning practices,” said Bob Vickers, UK Director at
Aruba. “The school serves as a fine example of how to proactively deal
with emerging trends. By purchasing Aruba’s flexible and scalable Wi-Fi
infrastructure along with the ClearPass Access Management solution, the
Kings of Wessex Academy has been able to convert a potential problem
with BYOD, into a powerful enhancement of school life.”

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in
Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas,
Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit
Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com.
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